


Purpose and Reward

by LittleMissAgrafina



Series: Discord Challenges [2]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, And i will give it to him, Avengers: Endgame Fix-It, BAMF Tony Stark, F/M, Fix-It, Gen, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Sentient Infinity Stones (Marvel), Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Lives, Tony Stark deserves a happy ending, Tony Stark-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-13 20:07:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29407398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleMissAgrafina/pseuds/LittleMissAgrafina
Summary: As he brought his fingers together, Tony felt one final flash and he knew that this was it. This was what he was meant for but he didn't want this to be the end.He didn't want to leave. Not now. Not when he had a wife and a daughter. Not when he finally got the boy who was as good as his son back.Tony didn't want to leave but he knew that his meaning and purpose would finally be completed the way it was always meant to.With tears blurring his vision and power crackling up his arm, he breathed out his last words."I. Am. Iron Man."-Tony Stark was meant to be the end of Thanos but he was never meant to die in the process.(An Endgame fix it fic where, after Tony snaps, he has a conversation with the Infinity Stones)
Relationships: Pepper Potts/Tony Stark (mentioned)
Series: Discord Challenges [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2127978
Comments: 6
Kudos: 75





	Purpose and Reward

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so this one was meant to be finished and posted two weeks ago but some major stuff happened and I haven't even opening my docs at all until tonight. Finally fit the inspiration to finish and post this so here it is. Please not that this is entirely unedited and I haven't even read over it after I finished it so I apologise for any and all mistakes.  
> I hope you guys like it!

Ever since he was young, Tony had known, had felt it deeply inside of himself that he was meant for something big, something great.

  
  


He didn't know it in a way to mean that he was better than the others around him, he did not mean it in a may that painted him on a pedestal, nor did he take it as him being above what he knew in the world.

  
  


Not at all. 

  
  


Tony had never even told anyone about it, about the feeling and knowledge that he held deep inside of him. An intuitive understanding that those around him would not and could not be able to understand that his life was meant for something greater than he could know.

  
  


They would only think that he was nothing but another snobbish rich boy. But Tony, well, he knew better. He knew that something was coming that would one day change the world.

  
  


For the rest of his life, that terrified anticipation would sit in his chest, coiling tight right in the middle of it.

  
  


He would forever chase after a way to loosen it so that he could breathe properly but he never found it no matter what he did. 

  
  


No alcohol, no drug, no invention, no party, all nighter, or fling did anything to help no matter the countless times that Tony had tried. 

  
  


Nothing worked and, to his despair, the feeling only grew as the years went on. Little flares of maniac, panicked anticipation soon made themselves known. 

  
  


The first time it had happened was when Tony's chest had essentially been hooked up to a car battery in a freezing cave in Afghanistan.

  
  


He'd thought it was a heart attack after the strain his chest and the organ had taken from the shrapnel.

  
  


It wasn't until they came in patterns did he figure out that it wasn't his weakened heart or PTSD.

  
  
  


\---

  
  
  


Tony started calling them  _ defining flashes. _ Moments of sudden and acute awareness that his purpose for living grew closer and closer.

  
  


It happened the first time he flew the suit over the city glowing in lights, then again when he said those frankly life changing words at the press conference.

  
  


_ I am Iron Man. _

  
  


It happened again. Over and over, the flashes sent him careening towards a fate he knew was detrimental to everything in the world and, he would eventually find out, the universe.

  
  


The flashes slowly grew in intensity and frequency, some even leaving Tony without breath for what felt far longer than healthy, but none would ever leave him feeling as painfully numb as the one that occurred only seconds after Peter crumbled to nothing in his arms.

  
  


Tony's hands cradled achingly empty space as the flash came out of nowhere. It hit his already wounded and shocked body so fast and hard that his knees buckled and black dots filled his vision.

  
  


His heart and chest were numb for three days before the pain set in.

  
  


The pain faded on earth twenty days later when he collapsed into Pepper's arms.

  
  


It faded but for the first time, never truly went away.

  
  


It lingered and for the next five years he thought the flashes stopped. 

  
  


It wasn't until he was holding the picture of Peter in his hands and thinking of the sister he never got to meet that Tony felt another flash.

  
  


Turns out that time travel was a defining moment. Who knew.

  
  
  


\---

  
  
  


Walking towards Thanos, Steve and Thor next to him, Tony felt his heart surge with yet another flash but instead of dimming, it simmered steadily.

  
  


As the battle roared on around him, the flash grew more and more intense until it felt like a ball of heat was nestled where his arc reactor used to be. Slowly, it became larger, spreading down into his limbs as he fired at the multitude of enemies across the battlefield.

  
  


With another surge of heat, Tony's repulsors whined as he propelled himself towards Thanos, both of them grappling before he was thrown to the side.

  
  


Thanos lifted the gauntlet, his fingers snapping together to bring the titan nothing but disbelief when he turned it over to find it empty.

  
  


The purple being turned around and could only stare as Tony knelt with a lifted hand adorned with the glowing stones that just moments ago had been within Thanos' own grasp.

  
  


As he brought his fingers together, Tony felt one final flash and he knew that this was it. This was what he was meant for.

  
  


Tony Stark was meant to lay down the wire and make the sacrifice play. This was him, his meaning, and in a terrifying grief filled twist, he wished that he had never wanted the flashes to leave him because now he knew that it meant he would be the one to leave.

  
  


He didn't want to leave. Not now. Not when he had a wife and a daughter. Not when he finally got the boy who was as good as his son back.

  
  


Tony didn't want to leave but he knew that his meaning and purpose would finally be completed the way it was always meant to.

  
  


With tears blurring his vision and power crackling up his arm, he breathed out his last words.

  
  


"I. Am. Iron Man."

  
  


His snap echoed across the suddenly silent warzone, a blinding white light enveloping him.

  
  


His purpose was fulfilled.

  
  
  


\---

  
  
  


_ "You have done well, Anthony."  _ The words wrapped themselves around Tony, coming from everywhere and nowhere all at once.

  
  


_ Who are you?  _ He wanted to ask but his voice couldn't say it.

  
  


_ "We are the Infinity Stones and you are our champion. You have wielded us well and fulfilled your purpose."  _ They whispered to him. Their answer did nothing to help his confusion.

  
  


_ "If I have done what was needed,"  _ Tony thought, knowing they would hear him,  _ "Then why am I here with you?" _

  
  


_ "You are here because you are to be rewarded. You were not meant to die, Anthony, your purpose has been fulfilled but your destiny has not." _

  
  


Again, Tony was confused. What more did they want from him? Could he not finally be allowed to rest?

  
  


The voices rose around him once more.  _ "Your reward will be your life. You will have it returned to you and you will live it in prosperity and love. Your family will surround you and you will get the rest that you so rightly deserve. Your heart was forged in iron and in pain. We replace it now with our own essence and know that it will serve you well." _

  
  


_ "Anthony Stark, you have chaos in your soul and fire in your veins. You were meant for many great and magical things. Take your life and rest now, return to your family." _

  
  


Before he could process it, the voices were gone and Tony's mind went blank and he was pulled away and another blinding flash of light.

  
  
  


\---

  
  
  


Tony woke up in a hospital room with his family around him.

  
  


His purpose had now passed and it was time for his future, his destiny.

  
  


It was time for Tony Stark to live the life that he had been rewarded.

  
  
  



End file.
